My front drive shaft fell out, dug into the tar banged, up the underside a bit and I now have some red oil leaking out of the sump sort of midway down the vehicle. I think the end whacked the sump and has compromised the flange and seal. I recovered the bits from the roadside and have two pieces of shaft, one end with splines which I see fits into the other bit and a small steel end cap?. The u-joints look broken? So where to from here and can I do this job myself? Why would this part just fall off?

 

it is nothing new, driveshaft warnings are posted just about every week.
Your drive shaft has no grease fittings where needed therefore it has not be greased 12-years.

When they let go the usually hit the ground bound up hit the transmission braking the housing and destroying the transmission with it.

I would suggest you post pictures to try and tell if it is going to be a $500 or $5000 repair.

 

Is the tranny damaged/leaking fluid?
As for the drive shaft, go to British Parts of Utah and buy their drive shaft and in the future make sure you grease the u-joints every oil change. Also if you did damage the flang on the front of the t/case BPoT has a replacement and seal.

 

Have you looked to see if you have a hole in your transmission?

 

He said 'red oil'. I would assume that's transmission fluid. Hopefully you just need a new pan, and that's it (along with a new greasable DS of course). Wow, after all the warnings on here about this, I have never heard of one actually occuring. I hope it all works out well and cheaply.

 

Pics!

 

I put a Woods driveshaft on mine. Very heavy duty and good price. Made per my lift specs.

 

This is the first time I have seen this story in the wild too. Definitely makes me not regret spending the cash to change mine out a few weeks back. Hopefully this will be an easy enough fix.

 

We all have "read" the warnings, it hits (no pun intended) a little harder when it actually becomes reality.

I bet everyone who read this just went out to their Rigs and pumped in a few more ounces of grease into their drive shafts. I know I did.

 

Guess you guys all missed that post a few months ago with the pictures of the broken tranny case. Here's a nice one from 2010: https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...mission-28607/